25.11.05

Kafka down under

TONY EASTLEY: The sister of a Melbourne man deported from Australia to Serbia last year has asked the Federal Government to allow her sick and destitute brother to return home. Robert Jovicic was born in France to Serbian parents and arrived in Australia when he was just two. He lived in Melbourne for more than 30 years and was a permanent resident. After spending time in jail for burglary, which he committed to support a heroin addiction, he was stripped of his residency and ordered out of Australia on character grounds.

Lynn Bell reports.

LYNN BELL: 38-year-old Robert Jovicic has been sleeping in front of the Australian embassy, in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. It's cold, he's sick, he doesn't speak the language and he has no right to work, or seek welfare because the Serbian Government doesn't recognise him.

To paraphrase Bart Simpson: I didn't think it was physically possible, but sometimes this country both sucks and blows.